Foxapalooza!

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I was driving through an area of Nashville called Hillwood the other day, on my way to a taping at our local NBC affiliate. I think there's some sort of weird force field that surrounds WSMV, because I've been there for TV 4 times, and I've gotten lost all 4 times. This isn't a hard place to find, either. Maybe I'm just distracted, or nervous, or whatever, but this taping wasn't any different - I managed to turn on the wrong road, ended up in driving circles, and found myself completely turned around.

So I called Randy, who can naviagate in the dark with his eyes closed, and asked how to get there. He sighed. I turned around. And poof. This is what I saw.

I apologize that the pictures aren't great, but I did the best I could.

Foxes, EVERYWHERE! A skulk of foxes, to be exact.

I counted three adults and at least eight kits. Gamboling in the grass.

Of course, my first thought was: she's rabid. Foxes don't hang out during the day like this. But as I watched, I realized they were totally fine, just airing their feathers. We've had so much rain lately that I'm assuming their den under that big magnolia tree got soaked, and the kits were probably driving everyone mad....

"Mom, can't I go out?"

"No son, there's a tornado out there."

"But Moooooooooooommmmmmmmmm. Bark. Bark. Bark. Bark."

(Mother fox sticks fork in eye.)

I am a big fan of the fox. To the point where I use the Japanese Teahouse as my iGoogle theme so I can watch the little fox throughout the day. I even named him - Jinn Kitsune. We had a number of red foxes where I grew up in the woods in Colorado, heck, they come on the back decks and eat dog food, but I've never seen anything like this.

It was quite the blessing. If I hadn't gotten lost, I would never have seen them, frolicking in that front yard. Sometimes stumbling upon the road less traveled is worth being a few minutes late.

I'm going to be relatively incommunicado for the next couple of weeks. Lots to do! I hope your holiday was blessed, and I'll see you soon!

Entering the 21st Century

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Oh boy.

It's been exactly two hours since the doorbell rang and my new best friend the FedEx man handed me my brand new iPad2. My little International traveler has been winging its way to me since Monday, when it left China jetted to Hong Kong, stopped off overnight in Taiwan (naughty), then flew to Anchorage, where it hung out for a day with the mooses before leaving for Indianapolis and then on to Nashville and my place. Yes, I've been tracking it's progress with a zealotry I though I reserved for opening day numbers on Amazon - I visited the page multiple times a day, hitting refresh, refresh, refresh, savoring the adrenaline rush when a new entry popped up.

I am a geek.

I gave Randy an iPad last year for his birthday, and have tried very hard to let it be his, and not something I'm constantly borrowing just to have a quick look at.... you know? It's his. I didn't want to develop an attachment to something I wasn't able to use all the time.

But this little honey is mine. All mine.

My laptop sits closed, not forgotten, but lonely, to my left, like a boyfriend I'm cheating on with a new fella. I am flirting with another. It's way past midnight, we're hanging out at the bar, and I, unabashed hussy, am giving it all she's got. Put it this way - he has a beard, a Harley and just got me to do my fourth shot of tequila.

(And what comes on the iPod as I write that but AC/DC SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG. Oh yes you did, sugar.)

I've hooked my newcomer up to the keyboard dock Randy bought but rarely uses. I know that's essentially cheating, but this is for a good purpose - I'm about to take this sucker on a transcontinental journey and I'd really like to be able to leave my laptop at home. Two hours in, and I think I may be able to pull that off. Holy moly! This thing is freaking slick.

For the geeks out there who might be wondering, here's a list of the Apps I ran for:

Wunderlist
Squarespace
Evernote
Reeder
Instapaper
Dropbox
Mozy
Delta
Southwest
Nook
iAWriter
Pages
Pandora

and of course, The Weather Channel.

Flipboard was Randy's suggestion - and WOW. It's really cool, very visual.

So I did have a few problems - mainly user error - I deleted this post accidentally, then rewrote it and was shocked to find that Squarespace wouldn't let me back into it to edit once I'd hit save - hopefully a bug that will be fixed soon.

But I'm a wee bit in love. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go try reading a book on this bad boy.

And hooah - Lent's technical over at 7pm.... I MADE IT!

Literary Libations #litlib

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Calling All Nashville Publishing People

First Literary Libations on May 12, 5-7pm

Greetings!

The Nashville Dutch Lunch gatherings continue monthly with random by invitation gatherings in downtown Nashville hosted by various, beautiful writerly type people.

HOWEVER, JT Ellison and River Jordan were searching for a way to host a monthly gathering of writers, agents, publishers, librarians, booksellers, publicists, reviewers, journalists, and so forth where people could come at will and have no need to RSVP. Just a show if you care and dare.

So LITERARY LIBATIONS was born. SIMPLY PUT -

THE 4th THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH - 5-7pm we shall gather to talk writing, books, words, business, and road trip stories.

ALWAYS - at the Union Station Historic Hotel. Valet parking provided.

Join us for a grand time for the first Literary Libations on May 12, 5-7pm. Putting a little swank in our step and looking forward to seeing your faces. Feel free to pass the word to your writerly friends and associates. If twittering please use hash tag #litlib. For friends from out of town - this is just your general invite. Rooms are available at the beautiful Union Station, and for you to share with friends from across the miles.

All our best,

River and JT